1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the conveying and turning over of batches of sheets of paper during the making of books. The invention is useful, inter alia, in 2-up coming and going methods of bookmaking. The term "book" is used herein to mean any assembly of pages arranged in a required order and to include not only printed books but, for example, diaries and any collection of printed sheets arranged in a required order.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bookmaking using the 2-up coming and going method involves making two books or book sections at once from a paper web which has been printed so that each successive length of the web shows a number of pages each of which appears only once, the pages being printed in such positions that, after slitting, cutting, if necessary folding, and collating a half-block is formed which has two sequences of pages. This half-block contains all the pages, hereinafter referred to as the primary pages, of the book or book section which have been printed on the web. Each side of each leaf of the half-block shows two pages arranged in side-by-side, head-to-head or tail-to-tail relationship, one page being from one sequence and the other page being from the other sequence. Each sequence contains half the primary pages of the book or section, one sequence containing the primary pages of the first half of the book or section in proper order and the other sequence containing the primary pages of the second half of the book or section in proper order. If one considers the order of the primary pages in each sequence with respect to one face of the half-block then the primary pages in one sequence "go" from that face while the primary faces in the other sequence "come" to that face.
Two of these half-blocks are superposed in appropriate relation to make a block containing all the pages of two books arranged side by side. The block will then be bound and separated into two books.
In addition to the primary pages, a half-block may also include secondary or inserted pages such as drawings, photographs or title pages which are not printed in the same operation as the printing of the web referred to above. These inserted pages may, for example, be fed into the half-block during collating of the pages. Alternatively, the inserted pages may be grouped together in a separately printed insert section which may be fed between two half-blocks when the half-blocks are combined to form a block as described above, may be added to one of the half-blocks before the half-blocks are combined, or may be fed onto the top or bottom of the block after the half-blocks have been combined.
Two book sections can also be made at once using the 2-up coming and going method described above. In this instance a block will be formed which is a double book section and which can be separated into two book sections each of which will have all the required pages of the section.
The above double book section block can be combined, prior to separation, with other double section blocks printed using the 2-up coming and going method to produce a larger block which can be bound and then separated into two complete books.
One object of the invention is to provide a simple method of, and apparatus for, conveying, turning over and, if desired, combining batches of paper during the making of books and which are particularly, but not exclusively, useful in 2-up coming and going bookmaking in which the batches will be the half-blocks referred to above.